Paris, December 13, 2018. — Finalcad, a leading construction mobile platform, today announces a $40 million Series C round, led by Draper Esprit, accompanied by Cathay Innovation and with the support of Salesforce Ventures.
The investment will enable the company to significantly accelerate operations across Europe and Asia, as the demand for their mobile-first construction app keeps increasing.
- The round was led by Draper Esprit, along with Cathay Innovation and additional funding from Salesforce Ventures. Finalcad has now raised a total of $63M. The company will use the further funds to expand its operations across Europe and Asia.
Along with existing French investors Serena, Aster and CapHorn Invest, additional international investment funds are joining Finalcad. Newcomer investors include leading European fund Draper Esprit, the global VC fund Cathay Innovation, and the global investment group of Salesforce, global CRM leader, Salesforce Ventures.
$10 trillion is currently spent on construction worldwide, and this number expected to double over the next 20 years. Yet the industry suffers from chronic low productivity. According to McKinsey, while overall productivity has risen by 30% since 1995 in the UK and Germany, productivity in the construction industry has risen by only 7%. Simultaneously, the adoption of digital technology has been very low; the industry still predominantly uses manual, non-digital processes. With a rise in population, and the consequent need for more infrastructure and housing worldwide, the need to build in more efficient and cost-effective ways could not be more pressing.
Finalcad was founded in 2012 by Jimmy Louchart, Joffroy Louchart and David Vauthrin, to solve this exact problem. The company enables construction companies to improve their operational efficiency through a mobile digital platform. Site Engineers, Foremen, Architects and Consultants can work together via their app, enabling collaboration across a wide variety of workflow processes both on site and at the office. Their app is not just a communication tool, but also enables users to work on drawings, BIM models, tasks, controls, safety procedures and progress monitoring. Finalcad can then provide insights and best practices at a company level, thanks to their analytics technology.
With this additional firepower, Finalcad is well positioned to build on its progress across Europe and Asia, as they execute on their mission to digitise the construction industry. The new funds will enable the company to:
- Extend their SaaS Product platform from the Buildings and Infrastructure industry sectors, to Energy and Operations & Maintenance. Hire 100 people to better serve their global customers. Invest in R&D around Construction Insight Platform, to provide predictive insights.
The company now employs 170 people, across 12 countries and has serviced over 20,000 projects since inception. Their customers include leading construction firms such as Shimizu, Eiffage, RATP and PT PP.
“When we raised our Series B in 2016, we intended to implement pivotal change: moving from a project-based business model to a company-wide digital transformation one. This involved covering all the main activities of our industry: buildings, infrastructure, energy, operations and maintenance. Since then, we validated this shift with some major contract wins in Europe and Asia. Now this Series C allows us to fully deploy our new strategy on a global scale. We firmly believe that this unique approach is coming to fruition, and the value we bring to our customers is the right path towards changing the way we build. We want to help our customers have a strategic advantage in their competitive landscape.” — Jimmy Louchart, Co-Founder and CEO, Finalcad.
“Finalcad is exactly the kind of company we invest in: a growth stage company, with a proven business model, seasoned management team, and a truly disruptive solution for a global market. We see the great opportunity ahead of us and are excited to partner with them as they build what we believe is the future of the construction industry.” — Ben Tompkins, Managing Partner, Draper Esprit.
“We are very proud to be part of Finalcad's investor base and to support the company on this new journey. With its mobile-first platform and a proven international DNA, Finalcad has become a leader in the digitalization of the construction sector. We look forward to leveraging our platform to help bridge its platform across the three continents and accelerating its growth in new European and Asian markets.” — Denis Barrier, Co-Founder & CEO, Cathay Innovation.
“At Salesforce Ventures, we invest in companies bringing cutting-edge solutions to our customer base. After examining the construction tech industry, we decided to invest in Finalcad because of its innovation and drive to scale globally. We are excited to be part of bringing construction tech to our customers.” — Alex Kayyal, Partner and Europe Head, Salesforce Ventures.
Press contacts:
UK - Isabella Cookson
Head of Marketing and Research at Draper Esprit
isabella.cookson@draperesprit.com
US and China - Yoann Besse
Managing Director, Citigate Dewe Rogerson, P.O. Cathay Innovation
Yoann.Besse@citigatedewerogerson.com
+33 (0)1 53 32 78 89 / +33 (0)6 63 03 84 91
FR - Alexandra André
Operating Partner, Serena Capital
aandre@serena.vc
+33 (0)1 77 37 30 41 / +33 (0)6 13 45 51 35
David Vauthrin
Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Finalcad
david@finalcad.com
+33 (0)6 64 81 85 67
About Finalcad
Finalcad is the global leader in digital transformation for construction, infrastructure and energy. Its unique combination of software, change management, and data helps construction stakeholders to change the way they build. Since 2012, Finalcad has delivered more than 20,000 projects across 35 countries, and has secured over $63 million in funding from investors including Draper Esprit, Cathay Innovation, Salesforce Ventures, Serena, Aster, and CapHorn Invest. For more information please visit www.finalcad.com
Draper Esprit is one of the most active venture capital firms in Europe, developing and investing in disruptive, high growth technology companies. We believe the best entrepreneurs in Europe are capable of building the global businesses of the future. We fuel their growth with long- term capital, access to international networks and decades of experience building businesses. Currently Draper Esprit is a shareholder in a diverse portfolio of companies including Trustpilot, Graze, Perkbox, PushDoctor and Graphcore. For more information please visit: www.draperesprit.com
Cathay Innovation is a global venture capital fund, created in affiliation with Cathay Capital Private Equity. It was founded around the shared conviction that supporting digital entrepreneurs by providing them with a platform bridging 3 continents – North America, Europe and China – constitutes a particularly powerful value-creation strategy. As a multi-stage fund, Cathay Innovation partners with visionary entrepreneurs, committed to driving change through technology. Such transformation is accelerated by leveraging Cathay Capital Private Equity's extensive network with corporates and solid experience in operational excellence. Cathay Innovation has offices in San Francisco, Paris, Beijing and Shanghai. To learn more, please visit www.cathayinnovation.com or follow us on Twitter @Cathayinnov.
Salesforce is the fastest growing top five enterprise software company and the #1 CRM provider globally. Salesforce Ventures—the company’s corporate investment group—invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Customer Success Platform, helping companies connect with their customers in entirely new ways. Portfolio companies receive funding as well as access to the world’s largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of Salesforce’s innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage Salesforce's expertise in corporate philanthropy by joining Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 280 enterprise cloud startups in 18 different countries since 2009. For more information, please visit:ww.salesforce.com/ventures.
Serena Capital was founded in 2008 by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. Today, Serena Capital is a leader in financing and supporting high-growth digital and innovative start-ups. The firm currently has more than €300M under management.
What makes Serena Capital unique is the strength and quality of the support they provide their portfolio companies with. In addition to being involved in a managerial advisory capacity, an internal support team also works very closely with portfolio companies to structure and speed up growth.
Serena Capital recently launched the first European fund entirely dedicated to Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. Serena I portfolio companies: AramisAuto (acquired by PSA), Bonitasoft, CoachClub, Arlettie, laFourchette (acquired by Tripadvisor), Launchmetrics, Melty, Prestashop, Prixtel, Sequans (SQNS), SantéVet, Selectron, RSI Video Technologies, Worldstores. Serena II portfolio companies: Alkemics, Coorpacademy, TVTY, Work4, Finalcad, Qualtera, Dataiku, TextMaster, Habiteo, Cheerz, Lengow, Evaneos, iContainers, Malt, Elium, Vekia, Flexybeauty, Privateaser. Serena Data Ventures: Heuritech, CybelAngel, Bestmiles, Odaseva, Allo-Media, Acinq, Lifen, Inato,Quantilia. For more information, please visit http://www.serena.vc/
Aster is a venture capital company which has raised €520 million through multiple funds with major corporations and institutional players. A specialist in the digital transformation and new industrial models, Aster funds growing companies in mobility, energy and industry. Using its “Business Hub” approach, the team works with entrepreneurs, enabling them to access corporate investor networks and markets at the global level. Aster operates in all the main innovation hubs, with offices in Paris, Cambridge (UK), San Francisco and Tel Aviv, and draws on partner funds in China and Africa. ConnectBlue (acquired by u-blox in 2014), Solairedirect (acquired by Engie in 2015), Tronics (acquired by Epcos in 2016) or Digital Lumens (acquired by Osram in 2017) are some of its success stories. For more information, please visit http://aster.com/
CapHorn Invest is a French independent Venture Capital Firm. We invest in B2B digital companies bringing transformation to mature markets. Our team relies on its strong network of 250 experienced business leaders (LPs in the funds) to boost our portfolio companies and provide them with direct commercial connections to decision makers. CapHorn Invest currently manages 180 million euros across two funds and has a portfolio of more than 25 companies. For more information, please visit https://www.caphorninvest.com/
